THEY are called the Ceasefire Babies, the nickname given to the generation who were too young to remember the worst of The Troubles.

And while this group of teens and early 20-somethings were not alive to witness the traumas of Northern Ireland’s bloody conflict, research has found they are suffering from it.

It has been well established in the psychological community that a traumatic incident can have lasting effects on victims.

Seeing and experiencing horrific events first-hand scars even the toughest of souls.

So, it would be expected that in a country like Northern Ireland, which experienced three decades of violence known as The Troubles, those atrocities would continue to haunt those who experienced them.

But what has emerged over the last decade has become an even more worryingly issue for Northern Ireland authorities. The children of those seriously affected by The Troubles are also showing alarming levels of mental health stress.

According to the results of the World Health Organisation’s World Mental Health Survey Initiative, Northern Ireland, despite being in times of peace, has the highest rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the world, outranking countries in the Middle East where there is ongoing conflict.

It is estimated about 40 per cent of the population has PTSD, and while there are many non-conflict related factors, a high proportion can be attributed to The Troubles.

Not only that but the country also has a very high rate of suicide. In fact suicide has killed more people than the 30-year war.

More than 3600 people were killed during the conflict which ran from 1969 to 1997, while almost 3709 took their own lives during the period from 1998 (after the ceasefire) to 2014, The Atlantic reported. That’s double the number of suicides from before peace began.

And of those, 676 of them, almost a fifth, were younger than 25.

Royal Ulster Constabulary officer come under attack from petrol bombs in the Kilwilkie Estate, Lurgan, during a search in the area which uncovered explosives and ammunition. Picture: AP/Brian LittleSource:AP

So what has caused this?

Experts say there are many factors for why a person would chose to take their own life but what researchers from the University of Ulster have been able to establish is that there is a direct link between suicidal behaviour in Northern Ireland and experiencing traumatic and conflict-related events.

An in-depth study on the trans-generational affect of The Troubles was carried out by analysing suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts on a cohort of 4000 people.

What researchers also found was lower levels of suicide attempts of those who took part in the study which they believe worryingly suggests this group might be more likely to take their own life on the first attempt.

So again, why are Northern Ireland’s young people taking their own lives?

“In general I think the legacy of the Troubles in terms of poverty in Northern Ireland seems to be one of the main things that explains the high suicide rate in particular areas here,” Professor Siobhan O’Neill told news.com.au. “There’s young people who are being parented by people who have been involved in the Troubles, who participated in the violence and it’s those communities that have really high levels of mental health disorders and suicide rates.

“And we think that when you’re parented by someone who has been exposed to trauma then a lot of the attachment behaviours can be different and there can be difficulties. There is also more violence in those homes as well.

“So you’ve got the breeding ground for violence against the self, poverty and hopelessness for the future.”

Masked members of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) prepare to throw petrol bombs at Royal Ulster Constabulary vehicles in Londonderry during widespread violence after the government allowed Protestant Orangemen to march through Catholic area of Portadown in 1996.Source:AFP

Prof O’Neill said besides attachment issues, parents with PTSD can have real difficulties meeting the psychological needs of their child.

“So you can have parents that have numbed their own emotions to such as degree they can’t express their love for their child or meet their child’s needs in a way that other parents could,” she said. “That can lead to children with self regulation difficulties who have difficulties managing their own emotional responses and again that’s something that can lead to suicide and self-harm behaviour later in life.”

Not only that but Prof O’Neill says there was also evidence that problems associated with trauma can be inherited.

Studies conducted on holocaust survivors showed subsequent generations have a heightened stress response, and a genetic difference which was supposed to allow them to cope with stress but instead made an individual's fight or flight response more attuned.

“So their stress activity and stress response will be programmed genetically to respond that much quicker to stress which isn’t a good thing in our society. It can increase the risk of self-harm behaviours and suicides,” she said.

Northern Ireland’s high alcohol abuse rate and high rates of mental health problems was also a contributing factor, Prof O’Neill added.

Another academic Professor Mike Tomlinson from Queen’s University, Belfast has spent years studying the legacy of The Troubles on subsequent generations.

His work found the suicide rate was actually lower in communities where individuals took part in violence because of a shared sense of connectedness.

However in today’s post-conflict Northern Ireland there isn’t the same level of connectedness.

“They are no longer struggling for a common purpose,” Prof O’Neill said. “And in the post-conflict context there isn’t the same level of connectedness. And if you add to that the different disenfranchisement of those groups with the peace process and the economic deprivation in some areas, then you’ve got small pockets where there’s a lot of social problems and high levels of mental health problems.”

And while research conducted on behalf of the Commission for Victims and Survivors found that 30 per cent of Northern Ireland’s population suffers mental health problems, and nearly half of those are directly related to The Troubles, Prof O’Neill said most people are actually coping well.

“In our study we found one in five said they had seen someone dead or seriously injured, which is nearly 20 per cent of the population which is quite high for really severe trauma,” she explained. “Remarkably a lot of people are fine and are moving on here but there are areas where there’s paramilitary activities and there hasn’t been progress and those are the same areas where we have flag protests every summer, and civil unrest, and low levels of educational achievement particularly in young men and a sense of hopelessness.

“While most people are moving on there are groups that aren’t and until we meet the needs of those groups a tiny minority are going to create a lot of social and economic problems for us as a population.”

If you or someone you know is in need of crisis or suicide prevention support, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit its website.